Abstract
This chapter draws a general demographic picture of migration to the six Gulf countries, with an emphasis on Asian migrants. Following the introduction, Sect. 2 assesses the link between oil prices, economic growth, and labor needs. Section 3 highlights the political underpinnings of the national composition of migration flow to the region, until present day. Section 4 examines some economic and socio-political challenges to reforming the kafala (sponsorship) system. Using the most recent receiving countries’ statistics, Sect. 5 describes Asian communities in the various Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) States, their size, national composition, and most salient characteristics as of the mid-2010s. The conclusion assesses possible future trends for Asian migration to the GCC region, in the light of latest economic developments and the post-Arab uprisings’ political context.
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Notes
- 1.
Unless stated otherwise, the data used in this chapter are exclusively from national statistical sources from the receiving Gulf States and taken from the Gulf Labour Markets and Migration (GLMM) Program’ demographic database (http://gulfmigration.eu/).
- 2.
In GCC countries, non-nationals may be 1- foreign migrants (a resident in the country, who was born outside that country, as a foreigner); 2- second- and third-generation foreign residents, born in the Gulf country of residence, but who do not hold the citizenship of their birth country since no birth right citizenship exist in the region, and naturalizations are very rare.
- 3.
Figures are for the total population: demographic growth rates are composed of nationals’ natural increase (excess of birth over deaths) and of non -nationals’ migration rates (excess of entries over exits). Due to the small size of Gulf national populations, however, the indicator reflects accurately the large-scale migration movements.
- 4.
http://www.arabnews.com/saudi-arabia/news/792061 (last accessed 07/07/2017).
- 5.
http://gulfbusiness.com/kuwait-eyes-nationality-quotas-family-visa-limits-reduce-expat-population/ (last accessed 07/07/2017).
- 6.
Bangladesh Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training, Statistical Reports, http://www.bmet.org.bd/BMET/stattisticalDataAction (last accessed 07/07/2017).
- 7.
https://www.tradearabia.com/index.php?/news/MTR_221090.html/ (last accessed 07/07/2017).
- 8.
A “free” (or “azad”) visa is a regular work visa issued to sponsors for employing foreign laborers. In some cases, however, individuals, companies or recruiting agencies would sponsor foreigners but would not provide employment , and charge fees in return for serving as sponsors, as well as upon renewing the administrative documents, a way for sponsors to receive an income from their sponsorship rights. The practice is now outlawed in every Gulf country.
- 9.
It should be noted, however, that highly skilled migrants are usually less vulnerable to the kafala system. Employers competing for certain competences must provide incentives to attract the best and brightest: social benefits and packages (accommodation, health insurance, transport and education allowances, and annual flight tickets). Governments compete too (tax-free salaries and consumption ).
- 10.
Data are not disaggregated by single nationality in Gulf statistics, except in rare occurrences in Bahrain . They are available by group of nationalities for Kuwait and Bahrain , as well as for selected statistics in Oman and Dubai. A data set for Qatar , published in the press, is also used here. All data are available in http://gulfmigration.eu/. Civil registration statistics (births and deaths, marriages and divorces ), are the only source of data disaggregated by nationality group in most Gulf countries.
- 11.
The totals by nationality were not included in the table, since they are only indicative. Totals by receiving country provide the sum of population numbers at different dates. It is, therefore, not exactly the total population at any of these dates.
- 12.
Qatar only publishes figures of nationals aged 10 and above; the UAE did not conduct any census since 2005. Last data available on the UAE population in Emirati statistics are estimates (projections) for 2010, based on census 2005 figures. The current figures are unofficial estimates published in the local press (see sources Table 2.3). Most were supplied by sending countries’ embassies in the Gulf, based on their records, as well as on receiving States’ Interior and Labour Ministries’ records, undisclosed to the public.
- 13.
According to the ISCO 08 classification, the “managers”, “professionals” and “technicians and associate professionals”.
- 14.
The “craft and related trades workers”; “plant and machine operators and assemblers,” and “elementary occupations”.
- 15.
The Gulf Business 2015 Salary Survey polled the average remuneration for 20 professions and sectors, including finance, real estate and media, across the six Gulf countries. The Survey was compiled based on inputs from regional recruitment companies including Nadia, Charterhouse and Michael Page (see Anderson 2015).
- 16.
The migration status (worker, family dependant, etc.) is inferred from the distribution of migrants by type of residence permit held as of 31 December 2015. According to Kuwaiti residency law, workers hold permits for government labor (no. 17), non-government labor (no. 18), business (no. 19) or domestic help (no. 20). Family members hold the dependants’ permit (no. 22). The figures exclude stateless residents (bidouns), non-Kuwaiti GCC citizens and those in irregular situations.
- 17.
The Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi also estimated in 2015 that 10% of the Indian nationals residing in the UAE (estimated at 2.6 million) were dependent family members (http://www.indembassyuae.org/eoi.php?id=UAE. Last accessed 07/07/2017).
- 18.
The term “labour camp” in the Gulf states designates collective accommodations for low-skilled transnational laborers. They can be large compounds housing the labor forces of large public and private industries, which provide food, recreational, sanitary, and other amenities; or unstaffed apartment buildings or villas, where workers share kitchen and bathrooms (Gardner 2010, p. 55).
- 19.
http://www.arabnews.com/news/485266; http://www.arabnews.com/saudi-born-arab-expats-stuck-between-rock-and-hard-place (Last accessed 07/07/2017).
- 20.
- 21.
- 22.
- 23.
- 24.
https://www.clydeco.com/insight/article/the-saudisation-of-sectors (last accessed 07/07/2017).
- 25.
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De Bel-Air, F. (2018). Asian Migration to the Gulf States in the Twenty-first Century. In: Chowdhury, M., Irudaya Rajan, S. (eds) South Asian Migration in the Gulf. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71821-7_2
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